Innovations in medical surgery have allowed many to recover from ailments previously thought untreatable or incurable. For example, various ophthalmic surgical procedures have been developed which repair portions of the human eye, including internal components of the eye, to relieve different visual ailments. As medical surgery develops and expands into new areas of the human body, often with limited accessibility, more complex surgical instrumentation is developed. Furthermore, the more complex the surgical instrumentation, generally the greater demand there is for precision of the surgical instrumentation.
To increase precision and accuracy in surgical procedures, control consoles are often integrated into surgical systems. Control consoles may be used, for example, to adjust the control parameters of the various surgical instruments being used, to monitor the status of the surgical instruments, and to perform rapid calculations and provide feedback to doctors and other medical personnel to assist in determining how to proceed with the surgical procedure. Ophthalmic surgical procedures are no different. For example, a vitrectomy, which involves the surgical removal of fluid within the eye, is generally performed using instrumentation driven by a computer system housed in a large control console. The control console is generally stationary or housed in a large rolling unit outside the sterile barrier, and includes device modules which directly connect to the surgical instrumentation. With the control console located outside the sterile barrier, the surgeon or other qualified practitioner operates the instrumentation at the patient level, while at least one other medical personnel operates the controls at the control console at the direction of the surgeon.